


These Aren't the Colors I Should See

by RadioZap777



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angie survives, Angst, Character Study, Gen, Himiko dies, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, POV Third Person Omniscient, Spoilers, Suicidal Thoughts, Survivor Guilt, and my knowledge of canon is a bit limited, implied cult abuse, no proofreading we die like kaede, so sorry if anything seems strange, tsumugi's intent is up to viewer's interpretation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:34:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29373153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RadioZap777/pseuds/RadioZap777
Summary: Korekiyo Shinguji did not kill Angie Yonaga. Korekiyo Shinguji killed Tenko Chabashira and Himiko Yumeno.Tsumugi didn't anticipate any of this, and has to quickly figure out how this effects the story's plot as Angie's world crumbles around her.(Intended as an Angie character study, but I ended up roping Tsumugi into the study as well. Title is from the song "Housewife Radio" by Ghost, although this is not a songfic. TW for suicidal thoughts and cults.)
Relationships: Shirogane Tsumugi & Yonaga Angie
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	These Aren't the Colors I Should See

**Author's Note:**

> do not get me wrong i love himiko, she's my favorite and im so so so glad she survives, but im bitter that they sacrified angies character potential <3 this one's for you miss yonaga
> 
> also one last warning, tw for suicidal thoughts. no attempt is made but it almost does and it's very blatant. also angie's a cult victim and i WILL take that seriously i stg

Somehow, Angie Yonaga had survived up until this point. Himiko and Tenko, however, could not.

The whole trial had been a blur of finger pointing, evidence, and accusations. Angie stood at her podium for hours on end, and everyone noticed one thing: She never smiled once.

How could she? Himiko and Tenko were dead. They were her _friends_. At least, she sure _hoped_ they were. She didn’t even think when she entered her guilty vote: Korekiyo Shinguji.

Little did anybody know, there was one person who understood less than Angie: Tsumugi Shirogane. Her plan had been _perfect._ Angie was supposed to go into the room Korekiyo was setting up his seesaw trap, and he’d have to kill her to compensate for being caught. Angie wasn’t supposed to survive this trial, but here she was right next to her, staring into space and not processing one second of Kiyo’s execution.

Right now, Tsumugi was supposed to be readying herself for what was going to be one of the most tear-jerking scenes of Season 53, where Himiko would break down in front of her classmates in tears, and, together, they’d all mourn everyone they lost. But _Himiko_ had been lost now, too.

Himiko was dead, and Angie was alive. This was going to change the entire plot. In all seasons of Danganronpa, she had _never_ seen something go so _wrong_.

“Angie? Tsumugi?” a voice spoke up, grabbing the cosplayer’s attention, but not the artist’s.

“Sorry, Gonta!” Tsumugi blurted, her eyes darting towards the screen displaying Korekiyo’s execution. He was already dead.

“Tsumugi should not apologize, but… Gonta is worried!” the entomologist said. “You both have seemed upset entire trial. Should Gonta help you both back to dorms?”

“I-it’s alright, Gonta,” Tsumugi replied, but spared a glance at Angie. She wasn’t paying attention still, eyes unfocused and glazed over. “I’ll… I’ll help Angie. Don’t worry. You can count on me!”

Angie wasn’t listening. She didn’t listen to any of it, nor know what was happening. She seemed to have just stopped processing everything after voting. She didn’t notice Tsumugi take her hand and lead her back to her room, nor hear her offer to stay with her until she was ready.

There was silence between the two of them, sitting on the couch, for a long, long time. Angie couldn’t believe this was happening. Atua scolded her for letting two more people die, nonetheless two people in the _council_. It was her job to keep them safe.

Reality began crashing onto her shoulders. Her breath began to pick up, her shoulders shaking as her heart pounded in her chest.

“Angie?” Tsumugi’s gentle voice broke through the silence. She scooted closer to the artist, who had finally noticed the cosplayer’s presence, and set a hand on hers. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“A… Atua says Angie has nothing to talk about,” she insisted. “In fact, Atua says Angie shouldn’t even be alive to be able to talk about it.”

“...Does He?” Tsumugi tentatively asked.

She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She helped design the character of Angie and, by extension, the “character” of Atua. She knew exactly who He was, and knew He didn’t truly exist in the world of Danganronpa, simply being a personification of Angie’s intrusive thoughts. She had been taught to not only encourage but to _honor_ her intrusive thoughts under Atua’s name ever since she was a child.

But Tsumugi, as a fellow character, wasn’t supposed to know that. The character of Tsumugi… Maybe she was supposed to keep honoring Angie and her status of Atua’s oracle? The Ultimate Student Council was _supposed_ to disband after Angie’s death, but she was alive and now Tsumugi had to work with it.

But would the kind and gentle Tsumugi encourage this train of thought?

“He does,” Angie continued, her voice uncharacteristically frail. “It… It has been fun, but if Atua commands it, then—”

“No.”

“No?”

“...Angie,” Tsumugi said cautiously. “I think we were all plain wrong.”

“How so?” the oracle gauged, tilting her head. “About Korekiyo? If we were wrong, everyone would be dead, and that’d be no good, no good…”

“Not about Korekiyo.” She knew for sure Korekiyo killed Himiko and Tenko. It wasn’t like Kaede “murdering” Rantaro.

For some reason, Tsumugi felt a pang in her heart.

It was stupid.

This was _fictional._ Nothing to truly mourn.

“Kiyo definitely killed them. I mean…” Tsumugi trailed off. “I mean about Atua, Angie.”

“We were wrong about Atua… We misunderstood His words?” Angie reasoned. “I do hope that is what you’re saying, Tsumugi. I’d rather you doubt me than Atua.” Her expression darkened, but nothing like her normal darkness. Even when dishing out ominous threats, Angie had always been optimistic, a smile plastered across her face.

Now, though, as she leaned uncomfortably close to the plain girl, her mouth didn’t even twitch upwards. Her eyes were wide, staring through her eyes and into her very soul, and Tsumugi had to wonder whether her gaze was digging up her secrets in silence.

How odd. Even though she played such a role in designing Angie, Tsumugi never considered she could become like this. It was… interesting.

Maybe Angie’s unexpected survival wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

“I think… I think you need to rest,” Tsumugi explains. “Um, your mental state must be putting a dampening on your abilities to hear Atua, y’know?” She clasps her hands together. “We’ve lost a lot, but I know you and Himiko were close.”

Angie seemed to flinch, leaning away from the cosplayer. “That _is_ true…” she said with a hum. “But Angie has always listened to His word, especially in her darkest times. How is that not one of those times?”

“I… I don’t know,” Tsumugi admitted, scolding herself because it was the truth. It was embarrassing because one could say she knew these characters better than she knew herself. “But I think it’s plain to see that you need a break.”

“Ah…” Angie stammered. “Atua says Angie should not.”

“Angie…”

Tsumugi was beginning to panic. Right when she began to think it was a good thing Angie survived, the artist was being plagued by suicidal thoughts. It would seem like downright lackluster writing if she committed suicide now, and maybe it _was_ Tsumugi’s fault for somehow letting Angie and Himiko’s intended fates get swapped.

“...But… But Angie wouldn’t want to risk the council with being inaccurate about what Auta tells her,” she admitted.

“Huh?” Tsumugi said, looking up. “So you’re going to take a break?”

“I dunno… There isn’t anyone to take over, y’know?” Angie mused. “Angie is the only oracle in the school… Who else can relay His word if I were unwell? Angie must be there for Atua…”

“Wh-why not sleep on it?” Tsumugi offered, covering up her desperation. “It… It makes me plain sad to see you so ready to throw your life away for Atua, Angie…”

“...It does?” Angie echoed, sounding surprised. Both of them knew that was a sentiment she’d never heard before, although Angie didn’t realize Tsumugi knew this.

“It does!” she affirmed. “I thought Atua’s word was our command, but if it means losing you, too, then…!”

“Does… Tsumugi not believe in Atua?”

Ah. Maybe she shouldn’t have said that.

Tsumugi winces, her hands falling to her lap as silence takes over once more, but only for a moment. “I’m sorry,” the cosplayer murmured.

“...D-disappointing, but… Angie u-understands,” Angie said softly. “Angie will be going to bed now.”

Tsumugi’s heart sank. She shouldn’t have said that! Angie was already suffering through Tenko and Himiko’s deaths! It was so insensitive to denounce her beliefs right there, and—

No. She’s _fiction._ It doesn’t _matter._

She hadn’t even noticed Angie had gotten up from the couch and fallen onto her bed without even changing out of her daytime clothes. She definitely hadn’t fallen asleep on impact, though, so Tsumugi thought to ask: “Can I stay the night?”

The depressed cultist rolled back over to look at Tsumugi. Her ocean blue eyes studied her, but she didn’t say anything.

Tsumugi took this as a signal to continue. “I just… want to make sure you stay safe.”

“...Okay. Sleep wherever you like.” She rolled onto her back. “I will not stop you.”

“Thank you, Angie… Th-the couch is fine.” She bit back a joke about the cliche of there only being one bed as she laid down on the couch, her mind made up.

Angie’s character, through her despair, was only becoming more and more interesting. She had to survive as far into the game as Tsumugi could make her.


End file.
